Riding from Frisco to Vail Pass Summit (10,662 ft) today was the first real day of cycling on trip. While pedaling mostly uphill on the way out, I ascended 1,600 feet over 15 miles. I made two critical mistakes, forgetting both food and Advil. The ride out lasted about 2 1/2 hours. The ride back was all downhill and took less than an hour. Stunning mountain scenes were visible during the entire ride. The sheer rock faced mountain walls reaching 12,000 to 13,000 feet were simply stunning and left me awestruck. The tree line in Colorado is around 10,600 feet. The thin air above 10,600 ft does not have the capacity to hold enough heat to allow trees to grow there. The continuous scenery of snow capped mountains skirted by aromatic forests, and streams swelled by a very rainy early summer was beautiful.
Water from over flowing lakes started to submerge part of the bike path. Lakes on both sides of the path started to turn into one lake. If the lake level rises any more, the bike trail will probably have to be closed. Parts of the trail were already under four inches of water. Perhaps my favorite part of the ride was the aroma of the forests. The scent of the forest is so crisp and refreshing. Scent may be the most underrated of the five senses, unless you are one of the people who has a sixth sense.
I struggled on the final ascent of Vail Pass once I reached 10,000 feet. I am still dealing with dehydration issues, not altitude sickness. Water is just running right through me as I try to restore the proper electrolyte balance in my body. Being dehydrated makes your blood thicker which makes your heart work much harder. I stopped at least 7-10 times to get my heart rate down to a manageable level. I don’t have a heart rate monitor and I don’t need one. I can tell my approximate heart rate by how hard I am breathing. Breathing lightly is about 100 beats/minute (bpm), breathing hard is about 120 bpm, and gasping for breath is about 140 bpm. Max heart rate, above 160 bpm, is when your heart is beating so hard that it feels like your heart is going to jump out of your chest. The sensation of your extremely rapid and powerful heart beating seems to take over your entire body. That is when I stop and try to get my heart rate back down. Hopefully during the next few days I will become fully hydrated again and I won’t have this issue.
The only person on the trail going up was me. For the first time in my life while riding a bike, no one passed me, usually everyone passes me. Everyone else was going down the mountain. That meant they paid a tour company to drive them to the top of Vail Pass, put them on an unfamiliar rented bike, and give them a push down the mountain. Then the customers hopefully coast down back all the way to Frisco safely. You have to question the wisdom and ethics of a company taking strangers money, driving them up to the top of the pass, and telling them, okay, you are now on your own. Good luck, you are going to rifle down a steep winding mountain pass with speeds approaching 30 mph, we don’t even know if you can ride a bike, hopefully we will see you back in Frisco with our bike we rented to you, we already have your money. I am sure the customers all signed liability waivers.
The descent back down from the summit was fun, approaching 30 mph on a winding twisting perfectly paved surface for about 30 minutes. One does have to be careful to look out forward quite a distance down the path and not stare too closely just in front of you. There is a saying, “Your car goes where your eyes go.” The same is true for a bicycle.
What is the temperature? I assume it is not hot enough that sweating is adding to dehydration.
40 in the morning, rising quickly to 70 by noon. I usually wait until its in the 50s before venturing out. I now realize that the dehydration actually started the last two days of driving from Little Rock to Frisco, I started having to make more frequent bathroom stops. Somehow my electrolyte balance got out of whack and my body was unable to retain water. I have had this happen before. The dehydration can lead to heat exhaustion very quickly if you are not careful. Trying to get a lot of potassium and salt in my system, that should help.
I’m living vicariously reading your post. I remember claiming many passes out west and the exhilaration that comes from pushing your physical and mental limits is certainly a rush! Pedal on!!!
Terri, the nice thing about this trip,since my trips are all out and backs, I ride uphill first, then get to mostly coast downhill on the way back. Its simply wonderful to see the mountains again. Training at home it was all about mileage. Here, the miles don’t matter much, the scenery is so spectacular.